"Ren Peacock, last time we were asked to go to Qinling Mountains, you didn't have to pay off the money. It turned out to be this big man who made me suspicious for a long time. I thought it was really haunted." Lan Ruling said and was about to pick up the whip. Ren Peacock was afraid that the two would fight again, so he quickly stopped him: "Okay, isn't it just money? When we return to Tudong this time, I will give you the money." After hearing this, Lan Ruling gave up and got angry. Gu Gu dropped his whip and took it back.
"Then, what do you want to do in Tudong? Your old man and my wife have told you to go out and don't go back. If you go back and get kidnapped by the cave god again, you will be in trouble!"
"Yes, no matter how far I run, the Cave God will never disappear. Even Brother Zhi was killed by the Cave God. I have escaped, but what about the other girls in Shanwan? Could it be that, Can they also escape from the Cave God? I want to go back and investigate clearly what the Cave God is!" Lan Ruling was surprised by Ren Peacock's words and quickly dismissed her idea: "Ren Peacock, I'm not talking about you. The Cave God is a very mysterious thing, so don't hit it with all your strength, otherwise if something happens to you, your chance of survival will be gone."
"Lan Ruling, I didn't come to you to ask you to back off. I've already made plans to go back. No matter whether the cave god is a human, a ghost, a god or a monster, I have to figure out why he chose me. The Girl from the Luohua Cave.”
"I think you are a bastard who is determined to go. Forget it, we will accompany you on this trip." Lan Ruling also wanted to persuade her, but when she saw that Ren Peacock was as stubborn as a donkey, she stopped. Please advise.
"Where are you coming from this time? Why are you still chasing three or four corpses?" Lan Ruling pointed to Xiang Province on the map: "Shatan, collect the corpses for a group of salt collectors and send them back to Xiu'an County."
"What does salt collector mean?" Song Siyuan just listened to Ren Peacock's talk about the southwest salt shortage and already knew that it was related to salt. Lan Ruling looked at Song Siyuan's face with annoyance: "Oh, what kind of explanation is this, Peacock?" You come to explain, I can't speak fluent Mandarin in Southwest China." Ren Peacock took over and explained that salt workers are mountain people from Sichuan, Hunan, Guizhou and other places who go to salt ponds in other provinces to work on construction sites!
As mentioned earlier, from the end of the previous dynasty to the present, the southwestern mountainous areas of Sichuan, Hunan, and Guizhou are experiencing salt shortages. Bandits control the mountainous areas and merchants cannot transport salt and food.
Mountain people eat very little ground salt from plant ashes and chili peppers. Every day of their lives is nothing more than firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea. If they do not eat salt for a long time, the body will develop various diseases, such as galls, weakness of limbs, and neurasthenia. , bone loss, nausea and vomiting, pale complexion, and may even be so weak that you are bedridden.
As long as the salt that could be brought in was expensive, these mountain people came up with a compromise. They went to work in salt ponds in other provinces. They did not charge wages and only settled in coarse salt. Then they would transport it home together with each other at a lower price. Sell it to the folks in the countryside, so that everyone can eat salt without having to pay a high price.
When the number of people doing this increased, the Salt Visitor Team was formed. During the slack season, groups of people often rushed from the southwest to neighboring provinces such as Shaanxi-Gansu, Zhejiang, and Jianghuai, including Chengxian County of Hunan Province, etc. After three or four months, they would give up their wages in exchange for a batch of coarse salt and return to Shiwanda Mountain.
The bosses of these salt ponds only need to take care of the meal and distribute some salt, which has already saved costs. Giving out this coarse salt is not a loss-making business. You benefit and I save worry. This set of rules has been passed down!
Over the years, more and more southwest mountain people have done this, and many people have survived by relying on this road. If these people had not eaten salt for a year and a half, they might have fallen ill long ago. As for more To be more serious, it is possible to enter the coffin. The salt collectors were stunned to find a way to the southwest and other places through the mountain road blocked by the bandits.
Against all odds, this is indeed a solution that, while useful, is not legal. Not to mention the government of the previous dynasty, even the Government of the Republic of China strictly prohibited the reselling of illegal salt. Whether it is coarse salt or fine salt, as long as there is no certificate when leaving the salt pond, it is illegal salt and is the target of severe crackdowns by the anti-smuggling team. The punishment would be severer than hanging or beheading.
There are guards on the official roads and bandits on the mountain roads. If these salt collectors want to take the salt back, they not only have to avoid arrests by the officials, but also avoid robbery by the bandits. They often cannot take the official roads and can only follow the river routes that their ancestors traveled. When walking on the old Guizhou Road, conflicts with the government and bandits are inevitable along the way.
What they took away this time were salt collectors who were detained near Shatan City, the capital of Hunan Province. Although these people were for personal use and not for selling for profit, they still belonged to the private salt gangs and had already been punished by the case investigation bureau. After the hanging, the body was still intact. Several fellow villagers who were traveling together pooled the money and planned to have them transported back to their hometown in Xiu'an.
"Don't the anti-smuggling team know about the salt shortage in the southwest? This salt is used to save lives!" Song Siyuan was filled with indignation. Instead of suppressing bandits in the salt shortage in the southwest, they only made things difficult for a few ordinary people. What kind of skills did they have?
"Miss, I see your hands are as slippery as shelled eggs. You have never experienced the pain of our mud legs. The anti-smuggling team eats from the government. What's the use of knowing there is a salt shortage? They specialize in arresting people." The only ones who work are the salt collectors." Lan Ruling's words shocked Song Siyuan, and she continued to ask: "Waiting and waiting?"
